Digital Citizenship -- Digital Access

This post builds on the ideas shared in the article "Nine Themes of Digital Citizenship".

As you have heard many times (and will continue to hear), digital citizenship needs to be reinforced continuously considering our students all have Google accounts AND we are now 1:1! Exciting, yes, and fraught with responsibility!

The digital citizenship website I referenced above lists nine themes of digital citizenship. Over the next nine blog posts, I'd like to address each one of the themes and give you ideas about how you can address those themes easily in your classroom.

The first theme listed is digital access which addresses the fact that not everyone has the same access to technology. This is true even in our school district. While all students now have a device at their disposal during the school day and student sin grades 5 - 8 are able to take their devices home, it is entirely possible that some kids can't use their devices at home. Some nay not have internet access at home, while some may have internet but not wireless access. What can we do to make sure our students have access to the resources we ask them to use at home if they are limited somehow at home? Here are a couple of suggestions:

• Know where students can go outside of school to get internet access. There are places, like the public library, that have free wireless access. Encourage students and their families to look for the locations in our community that have partnered with Channahon School District 17 to provide wireless access for students. Here's the logo to look for:
  
• Also available from the local public library are mobile hot spots. (Contact or stop in at Three Rivers Public Library to learn more about this.)
• If you know of families who might be having a difficult time financially gaining home internet access, contact the district office. They have resources they can refer to in order to assist families as much as possible.

Giving students Google accounts and putting a device in their hands doesn't guarantee digital access. But knowing what resources are available to our students once they leave our classrooms can help bridge any digital access divides.